How Much Does Tri Tip Cost in California?
California average · USDA Southwest region · week of June 11, 2026
$7.10/lb
Store-weighted advertised price for tri tip roast across California-area supermarkets this week. The national average runs about $7.77. What you actually pay turns on grade, your store, and whether it’s on feature.
Tri tip shows up at three quality tiers in the weekly ads. Here’s the current California spread, cheapest to priciest, with the national average for context:
Store brand
$4.99/lb
USDA Choice
$6.99/lb
Angus / Branded
$11.99/lb
National average
$7.77/lb
“Store brand” is ungraded supermarket beef, “Choice” is the standard graded tier most stores feature, and “Branded” covers Certified Angus and similar programs. USDA Prime tri tip is almost never advertised, so it has no line here, but Costco often carries it in bulk (more on that below).
A quick rule of thumb on what counts as a good price: in California, Choice tri tip under about $7/lb is a solid buy and anything under $5 is a steal, while $10 and up means you’re paying for Prime or a branded Angus program. Those are whole-roast prices, too. Cut into steaks, tri tip runs a little higher, about $7.99/lb for Choice this week.
Deal watch · week of June 11, 2026
The lowest advertised tri tip price in California this week is $4.99/lb for store brand, with graded Choice as low as $6.99/lb. In California, value chains like WinCo, Stater Bros, Vons, and Smart & Final tend to run tri tip features, especially heading into grilling-season weekends. One honest caveat: USDA pools these prices from store ads but never names the retailer, so we can show you the price, not the chain. And because grocery ad weeks vary — many flip on Wednesday, some Thursday or Friday — and this is a once-a-week snapshot, a given sale may already have changed. Check the store’s current ad before you make the drive.
The National Trend, 2018 to 2025
Zoom out from this week and the longer story is a steady climb. Each point is the monthly national average of the USDA’s weekly advertised price. The chart opens on the last two years; tap Since 2018 to see the full run, tri tip rising from about $5.26 a pound in 2019 to about $7.69 in 2025, up roughly 46% as the cut went from West Coast secret to national staple.
Monthly national average of weekly advertised price, USD/lb, through September 2025. Source: USDA AMS National Retail Report – Beef.
Where to Actually Buy It
Price is only half the question. Where you buy matters as much as when, and our first recommendation is your local butcher. A good counter will hand-cut to the thickness you want, leave the fat cap on if you ask, tell you where the beef came from, and steer you to the best value that week. You support a local business instead of a national chain, and you usually walk out with a better piece of meat. In California, buying direct from a Central Coast ranch gets you the same traceability with even fresher beef.
Warehouse clubs are the dependable backup, and Costco is the one shoppers ask about most. As of spring 2026, Costco runs USDA Choice whole tri tip around $8.99/lb and USDA Prime tri tip steak around $11.99–$13.99/lb, with the pre-seasoned Kirkland tri tip near $13.59/lb. They sell it whole or in bulk packs, so the Prime in particular is a real bargain for the grade. Costco prices aren’t in the USDA report and swing by warehouse and region, so treat these as a recent typical, not a live quote.
Ask about the fat cap
Tri tip sells either trimmed or with the fat cap left on, and it changes what you pay. You buy by total weight, so a fat-cap-on roast costs a little more up front for weight you’ll trim off. But that cap bastes the meat as it cooks and shields it from drying out, so most pitmasters want it left on. Ask your butcher to leave at least a quarter inch, and factor that weight in when you compare a trimmed cut’s per-pound price against one with the cap.
Hunting for a specific spot? The tri tip locator maps out where to find it across California, from butcher counters to ranch-direct.
How We Built This
Every week the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service publishes the National Retail Report for Beef, which records the advertised prices supermarkets feature that week. Tri tip is a standing line item, broken out by region and quality grade. For the current California figures we take the Southwest-region rows (AZ, CA, NV, UT) and store-weight them by grade. For the long-run trend we pulled the national weighted-average price from every weekly report since 2018-12-07: 351 readings in all.
In September 2024 USDA moved the report to its newer MARS platform and split tri tip into roast and steak lines, each regular or value grade. From that point our series is the store-weighted average of those conventional, fresh lines. It lines up cleanly with the older single-line series at the handoff — $6.82 in the last week of August 2024 against $6.63 in the first week of September — so the trend stays consistent across the format change.
Read this honestly
These are advertised feature prices at major retailers, not everyday shelf prices, so sale weeks run below what you might pay on a random Tuesday. USDA pools ads from many retailers and reports the average without naming any store, so we report what tri tip costs, not which chain has the lowest sticker. The California snapshot uses USDA’s Southwest region, the finest geography it publishes, so it spans a few neighboring states, not California alone. The trend chart is a separate, broader national series.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does tri tip cost per pound in California?
As of the week of June 11, 2026, USDA’s Southwest region puts tri tip roast around $6.99/lb for Choice, about $4.99 for store-brand, and about $11.99 for branded Angus, a store-weighted average near $7.10. The national average is about $7.77. These are advertised prices, so your store will vary.
Is tri tip getting more expensive?
Yes. Nationally the average rose from about $5.26 a pound in 2019, the first full year of data, to about $7.69 in 2025, up roughly 46%. Rising popularity and record beef prices both played a part.
When is tri tip cheapest?
Around grilling season. Retailers run the most ad space on tri tip heading into Memorial Day, Father’s Day, and the Fourth of July, which is when feature prices fall hardest. Buy on feature weeks, not at everyday price.
Where is the best place to buy tri tip?
We recommend a local butcher first: a custom cut and trim, real provenance, and you support a local business instead of a national chain. Warehouse clubs like Costco are a reliable backup and often carry Prime tri tip in bulk multi-packs. In California you can also buy direct from Central Coast ranches for the freshest beef.
How much is tri tip at Costco?
As of spring 2026, Costco runs USDA Choice whole tri tip around $8.99/lb and USDA Prime tri tip steak around $11.99 to $13.99/lb, with the seasoned Kirkland tri tip near $13.59/lb. Costco prices vary by warehouse and aren’t in USDA’s report, so check your local store, but the Prime is a strong value for the grade.
What is a good price for tri tip?
In California right now, Choice tri tip around $6 to $7/lb is a solid everyday price, and anything under $5 (often store-brand or a feature week) is a steal. Above about $10/lb you’re paying for Prime or a branded Angus program. Watch grilling-season feature weeks for the lowest prices.
Is tri tip expensive compared to other cuts?
No. Tri tip is a value cut, far cheaper per pound than ribeye or filet but with big, beefy flavor, which is why it’s sometimes called a poor man’s ribeye. See how it stacks up in tri tip vs brisket and tri tip vs picanha.
Source
Data Source
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Marketing Service. National Retail Report – Beef (Weekly Retail Beef Feature Activity). Washington, DC: USDA AMS Livestock, Poultry, and Grain Market News.
Retrieved June 19, 2026. Trend series compiled from the historical archive (2018–2024 and 2024–2025); California figures from the current weekly report. See the USDA AMS retail reports hub for the program.
Knowing the price is half of it. Learn what you’re buying in the guide to the cut, then put it to work with the recipe collection.